USSR, 1917-1991: social changes

Question 1

Work 1917-28’s statistics

Answer 1

• war -> 570 industrial enterprises closed between March and August 1917 -> unemployment increased to over 100k by October 1918
• truce out of WWI -> war production decreased -> unemployment increased more. by 1918, 75% of chemical

Question 2

War Communism - relationship between the gov and workers. workers provided labour and the goverment provided food and amenities

Answer 2

• compulsory labour ended early 1918 unemployment. from September 1918 able-bodied men between 16-50 lost the right to refuse employment. ppl in work were issued a work card - food rations.
• allocating resources according to the value of work: rations were allocated according to occupation. population was divided into 6 groups according to their jobs. the rationing system was based on class, so working-class ppl received the highest rations while middle-class received less.
• former people - aristocrats and former factory owners were entitled to abt 25% of the food that working ppl received
• at the height of the rationing system 36 products were rationed and there were 22 million ppl entitiled to ration cards
• Prodraspred (Section of General Distribution) organised rationing which had subsections: one delivered rations to workers and a Community Section tried to deliver food to schools and to people who could not work due to sickness or disability.

Question 3

Benefits 1917-28

Answer 3

• a work card entitiled workers to travel on public transport
• communal facilities e.g. laundries and creches were also provided in urban centres to help women factory workers
• communal dining halls were set up in factories to feed workers. the gov claimed that 93% of ppl living in 1920 Moscow were regularly fed in them.

Question 4

Prodraspred (Section of General Distribution)

Answer 4

organised rationing which had subsections: one delivered rations to workers and a Community Section tried to deliver food to schools and to people who could not work due to sickness or disability.

Question 5

Labour Law

Answer 5

• 1922
• gave unions right to negogiate binding agreements abt pay and working conditions w employers

Question 6

Stalin reintroduced harsh labour discipline

Answer 6

• lateness criminalised
• unions lost the right to negogiate w factory managers
• damaging factory property was criminalised
• strikes banned
• Stalin also introduced the ‘continuous work week’. workers still received 1 day off a week but it changed each week.
• by 1940, internal passports were introduced to prevent workers moving from different towns w/o permission.

Question 7

Benefits in the 1930s

Answer 7

5 years plan led to benefits:
- workers were entitled to food rations
- by 1933 most Soviet citizens had access to electricity
- 30k km of railways were built, increasing access to transport. passenger traffic increased by 400% in the 1930s
- Moscow Metro opened in the 1930s - provided underground transport
- healthcare provision inc mass vaccination campaigns dealing w smallpox, diptheria, malaria and typhoid.
- factory and farm canteens provided meals for workers.
- factories provided employment and administered benefits inc hospitals and housing.
- peasants benefited less than workers. e.g. not entitled to rations and food was scarcer on farms than cities; gov also seized food from from farm production.